Recruiting channel partners can be a time intensive and expensive initiative, making it vital that you onboard only those organizations that have the potential to be a revenue generating partner. Each organization will have their own set of guidelines they can use to develop an ideal partner persona so that recruiting efforts will be more efficient. Here we take a look at three of the most important attributes of an ideal channel partner.

Industry Experience

If your product is technical or in any way requires a certain degree of training, your ideal partner should be one with the background to assist your potential customers with their on-boarding or even follow-up training in proper usage. A reseller of payroll software could offer a service for installation and potential post-purchase troubleshooting. In some instances, a corporate IT department may even outsource part of their department to a value added reseller to handle the implementation. Therefore, customers are going to be more inclined to purchase your product if they believe that they will have assurances from your channel partner. The confidence in your channel partner in many ways translates to your product.

Sales And Marketing Infrastructure

Ideally your newly onboarded partners will have the infrastructure necessary to promote and sell your products. While a good deal of training may still need to be provided and co-branded marketing materials are extremely helpful, a channel partner should have some level of infrastructure and budget to invest in your program. Market development funds tend to be used much more efficiently by organizations who don’t need to outsource their marketing efforts. It is important to know what kind of time and resources your partners will be able to dedicate to your projects specifically. This way you can gauge potential output and evaluate if this company can realistically generate revenue.

Geographic Foothold

Your company’s product most likely has an ideal buyer persona, and more often than not are located in specific cities or even countries which have attributes making them ideal targets. Considering the software model, large cities which have a multitude of enterprise level corporations that could use your program would be where you would seek a channel partner to help distribute it. As they will likely already have connections to customers which you are seeking to connect with. This can be the most critical for growth, as the volume and frequency of sales can expand very quickly with a well-placed and well-connected partner.

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